Congratulations to the Baylor Bears, who completely dominated the previously undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs. They played amazing defense and their guards scored at will. They jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game, and it never really got closer than that, as the Bears won the 2021 National Championship with a 86-70 victory.
Congratulations also to our 2021 Stomp the Lunatic Champion – John Greene. His correct prediction of Baylor beating Gonzaga gave him a 60 point victory over John Greene.
In the Upset Pool. Gregg Farber managed to jump out to a lead thanks to predicting UCLA to the Final 4, and held off Joe Chapman by 3 points as Joe needed Gonzaga to win to pass Gregg.
In the Second Chance Pool, Sarah Ahles and Chris Kelly tied for first place in the second chance pool by predicting that Baylor would beat Gonzaga. Based on the tie-breaker (Sarah missed the total score by only 3, while Chris missed by 26), Sarah is the second chance pool champion.
Here is a list of all our prize winners.
| STANDARD POOL | |||
| 1) | John Greene | 1210 | |
| 2) | Kelly Woods | 1150 | |
| 3) | Karl Knox | 1110 | |
| 4) | Andrea Zimmerman | 1100 | |
| 5th Tie) | Lowell Isaacs | 1090 | |
| 5th Tie) | Kelly Woods | 1090 | |
| 7th Tie) | Cooper Bradley | 1070 | |
| 7th Tie) | Christie Olenic | 1070 | |
| 7th Tie) | Josh Glass | 1070 | |
| 10) | Martin Poteralski | 1060 | |
| LAST) | Kyle Kelly | 170 | |
| UPSET POOL | |||
| 1) | Gregg Farber | 269 | |
| 2) | Joe Chapman | 266 | |
| 3) | Ryan Callahan | 252 | |
| 4) | Adam Davis | 240 | |
| 5) | Hailey Peterson | 237 | |
| 6) | Amy Hattaway | 236 | |
| SECOND CHANCE POOL | |||
| 1 TIE) | Sarah Ahles | 880 | |
| 1 TIE) | Chris Kelly | 880 | |
| 3 TIE) | Kevin Busby | 840 | |
| 3 TIE) | Evan Goldstein | 840 | |
| 3 TIE) | Mark Horgan | 840 |
As for the Lunatic, he was thoroughly stomped this year. He was sadly sitting in a tie for 166th place – his picks did about as well as the Big 10 did this year. But despite the stomping, I am sure that the Lunatic will be back again to try to prove his ability (or inability) to predict college basketball games.
Thank you to all of you for continuing to make this such a fun basketball pool and giving me a chance to rant about the sport that I love to watch.
Congratulations once again to all our prize winners, and congratulations to the Baylor Bears – the 2021 NCAA Champions.